The Samsung Series 9 (Microsoft) is every bit as luxurious, thin, and well-equipped as the competitionand it'll cost you a pretty penny.

Samsung has the chops to compete with the biggest names in the PC industry and is apparently not shy about copycatting successful products. With the Samsung Series 9 ($1,599 list), available at Microsoft retail stores and online), the company takes aim at the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch ($1,299 direct, 4 stars). This laptop is crafted from a durable aluminum, extremely thin, and capable of landing knock-out punches in terms of performance and features. This particular version is sold through Microsoft's own online store. Although there's minimal bloatware and a price break on Microsoft's Office Starter 2010, it'll wind up costing you more than the Air 13-inch.

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Design
Put your hands on the laptop, you realize the Series 9 is nor cheap Apple knock-off. The entire frame is made of a material called "Duralumin," which Samsung claims is the kind used for building aircrafts but looks like any other brushed aluminum frame. The Series 9 held up pretty well after giving it the old palm press on the lid and screen bending test, the same test the Air 13-inch was subjected to and passed as well. Ultraportables, like the Toshiba Portege R835-P50X ($850 list, 4 stars) and Sony VAIO VPC-Z1390X ($3,800 direct, 4 stars), aren't as solid.

The Series 9 is amazingly thin, measuring between 0.62 to 0.64 inches thick. It's literally as thin as my weekly People magazine. The Air 13-inch's tapered design creates an even thinner front bezel (0.11 inches). The Series 9 tips the scales at 2.9 pounds, matching the Air 13-inch and a hair lighter than the Z1390X (3 pounds) and Portege R835-P50X (3.1 pounds).

The Series 9 boasts one of the brightest screens (at 400 nits), which is even brighter than the one on the Air 13-inch. Though 1,366-by-768 resolution doesn't scale as high as the Air's 1,440-by-900 display, the matte screen doesn't give off as much as glare as the MacBook Air's glossy one. The Chiclet-style keyboard isn't only similar looking to that of the Air, but the typing experience is as rock-solid. It's backlit, too, a feature even Apple couldn't pull off for its beloved Air series. The oversized clicking touchpad is another eerie similarity, though it isn't as well engineeredsoftware and hardware-wise. For instance, the two to four finger gestures that work so brilliantly well with the Air's touchpad are practically absent on the Series 9. At times, these gestures even get in the way of dragging while clicking the mouse buttons.

Features
With ports and slots, the Series 9 took a page from the first generation MacBook Air. On both sides of the laptop, you can find dropdown doors that expose a set of ports. They aren't easy to get to, as you'll have to lift the laptop or flip it over because they're practically at the base. The right side ports include USB 2.0, a headphone jack, and a Micro SD slot. On the left side you can find another USB port, mini HDMI, and a proprietary Ethernet port that you'll need the included dongle for. Aside from the Ethernet port, the Air 13-inch's selection of ports is very similar. Sound from the stereo speakers is blasting out from the side of the palm rests, and its quality is more impressive than I thought possible for a laptop this thin.

An optical drive isn't included, of course. For that, you'll want to look at the Toshiba R835-P50X and Sony Z1390X. Like the MacBook Air, the Series 9 uses a solid state drive for storage128GB's worth. Not only is it more durable than a spinning drive, but its boot-up and resume-from-sleep times were gloriously fast. Best of all, this ultraportable comes with a 3-year international warranty, whereas Apple starts with a year of parts and labor.

The Microsoft store's configuration is slightly different from what you would get when you purchase the Series 9 anywhere else. For one, it doesn't load Norton's Internet Security (60-day trial), Cyberlink's YouCam, Skype 4.2, WildTangent games, and all the usual Adobe plugins. Some would call this stuffbloatware, but others might find them useful. You decide. The other so-called advantage is that you can purchase Microsoft Office Starter 2010 at a price break ($99, instead of $150). It's an ad-supported product that only comes with Excel and Word Starter 2010a bare-bones Office 2010 version (No PowerPoint or Outlook) and not worth it in my book.

Performance
Performance is where the Series 9 and Air 13-inch diverge. The Series 9 runs on a 1.4GHz Intel Core i5-2537M processor, as opposed to the MacBook Air's two-generations-old Intel Core 2 Duo. The Intel Core i5-2537M is the first ultra low voltage processor to arrive at our bench with Sandy Bridge technology, which meant good things for performance. PCMark Vantage (7,593), an overall performance gauge, favored the Series 9 by a 33% margin when compared with the MacBook Air 13-inch (5,701) and Toshiba R835-P50X (5,423). It scored1.36 on Cinebench R11.5 and 5 minutes 53 seconds on Adobe Photshop CS5, both of which were faster than the MacBook Air 13-inch (1.1, 10:50) . Graphics power gets a much needed boost from Sandy Bridge technology, though the Series 9 was still no match for the Air 13-inch (5,112) in a test like 3DMark 06 (2,441). The fact that it's low voltage processor had something to do with it.

The lithium polymer battery is sealed in like that of MacBook Air, and there's no mention of its capacity. Judging by battery tests, though, it would seem Samsung's battery is comparable, if not bigger, than the Air's 50WH one. It scored 6 hours 10 minutes in MobileMark 2007, beating the MacBook Air 13-inch (5:35) by 35 minutes and trailed the Toshiba R705-P35 (7:01) by about the same amount. A super-thin laptop that can sustain this kind of battery life is very impressive.

My only quandary about the Samsung Series 9 (Microsoft) is that it's essentially a knock-off of the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch, yet it's more expensive. If that's the case, why wouldn't you go with the real McCoy? The Series 9 has more processing power, a three-year warranty, and a few extra features (backlit keyboard, Ethernet, matte screen) that you won't find in the MacBook Air 13-inch. The MacBook Air 13-inch has its own intangibles (better software load, graphics, customer support, etc), but the Series 9 is a solid alternative. As for buying it from Microsoft's online store, its own configuration isn't more compelling than buying it from anywhere else. Your strategy should the same: Buy from a trusted retailer, for the best price. But before you do, check out the Toshiba Portege R835-P50X, which costs half as much.

Samsung Series 9 (Microsoft)

Samsung Series 9 (Microsoft)

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